The New Zealand digital advertising market grew 12% year on year to reach $2.967 billion in 2025 - continuing a sustained growth trajectory as investment shifted toward Video and Search remained strong.
This report, developed with an independent third party, shows Video was the standout performer, growing 27% year-on-year to $653.8 million and accounting for 22% of total digital advertising revenue in 2025. Search remained strong at $1.44 billion, growing 12% year-on-year, while Classifieds and Directories grew 7% to $389.5 million.
In Q4 2025, total digital advertising revenue reached $813.8 million, up 12% year-on-year. Video grew 24% to $186.9 million in the quarter, and digital audio recorded strong momentum, up 22% to $4.0 million.
New Zealand’s results reflect what we are seeing across other global markets - digital advertising continues to grow despite challenging economic conditions, and video is leading that growth.
Programmatic advertising continues to mature, with connected devices now commanding 50% share of programmatic revenue at $40.6 million for the full year - up 2% year on year. Programmatic Guaranteed remains the dominant buy type, with video accounting for 86% of Programmatic Guaranteed revenue.
By advertiser category, CY2025 Recruitment led with 24.4% share and Real Estate held steady at 23.2% share. Q4 2025 results showed an uplift in Real Estate to 24%, delivering a quarter-on-quarter movement in share of 3%.
On device trends, Connected Devices recorded the strongest growth trajectory with Connected Device revenue up 20% for the year to $63.2 million, reflecting the continued rise of connected television and streaming as an advertising environment.
New Zealand’s 12% growth is consistent with comparable, more mature markets globally. IAB UK’s full year 2025 Digital Adspend Report, released in March 2026, confirmed the UK market grew 10% year on year to reach £40.5 billion. IAB Australia’s Internet Advertising Revenue Report, also released in March 2026 confirmed the Australian market grew 11.5% year on year to reach AUD $18.4 billion.
Across all three markets, Video was the standout growth format, and commentary from both IAB UK and IAB Australia highlighted the resilience of digital advertising investment against a backdrop of economic uncertainty.
IAB Australia CEO Gai Le Roy described 2025 as “a market that is growing, but selectively - driven primarily by video and search, while other display environments saw more modest movement.”
New Zealand’s results reflect the same pattern, with video up 27% and display (excluding video) flat for the year.
Detailed breakdowns and trend information are now available in the full report, available only to logged in IAB New Zealand Members.
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